authenticize

Her oriental sunshade and the camels “authenticize” the otherwise genre-looking scene.

Art: Representation of Biblical Women. 2009

There's a lot of griping in travel about a golden age when guidebooks and backpackers didn't give you the full picture of some middle-of-nowhere off-the-beaten-track town and you got there shimmering with innocence, sleeping on the floor of a poor local's house, getting fed plates of food unsullied by foreign tastes, possibly being ripped off or wandering cluelessly for a few hours, the town to yourself, not a shred of info or a single other tourist to de-authenticize your experience.

Matador Network 2009